January 1976 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Jan 1 42nd Orange Bowl: #3 Oklahoma beats #5 Michigan, 14-6

Sports History

Jan 1 After 45 years of coaching, Paul Brown (Cleveland Browns; Cincinnati Bengals) announces his retirement from the National Football League

Australian Open Women's Tennis

Jan 3 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley beats Renata Tomanova of Czechoslovakia 6-2, 6-2 for her 3rd straight home singles title

AFC Championship

Jan 4 AFC Championship, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Oakland Raiders, 16-10

Jan 4 Australian Open Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Mark Edmondson upsets John Newcombe 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 for his first and only Grand Slam title
Jan 4 NFC Championship, LA Memorial Coliseum: Dallas Cowboys beat Los Angeles Rams, 37-7
Jan 5 Greg Chappell scores 182* for Australia at SCG against West Indies

Sports History

Jan 6 Ted Turner purchases Atlanta Braves for reported $12 million

Sports History

Jan 9 Bryan Trottier failed in 4th Islander penalty shot

Sports History

Jan 11 Dorothy Hamill wins her 3rd consecutive national figure skating championship

Jan 13 Future undisputed world middleweight boxing champion Marvin Hagler suffers his first career loss in a controversial 10-round majority decision to Bobby Watts at the Philadelphia Spectrum
Jan 14 Ted Turner becomes CEO of Atlanta Braves
Jan 18 Super Bowl X, Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, FL: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 21-17; MVP: Lynn Swann, Pittsburgh, WR
Jan 20 29th NHL All-Star Game, Spectrum, Philadelphia: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 7-5; MVP: Peter Mahovlich, Montreal, C
Jan 23 Ian Redpath hits his only 2 sixes in Cricket Tests, v WI Adelaide
Jan 23 Wash Caps end 25 game winless streak (0-22-3) beat NY Rangers 7-5
Jan 24 Cleveland Cavaliers biggest margin victory-43 pts (beat Milwaukee 132-89)

Boxing Title Fight

Jan 24 Former world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman KOs Ron Lyle in 5th round at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas; Foreman knocked down twice in 4th; 'The Ring' Fight of the Year

Jan 26 NFL Pro Bowl, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans: NFC beats AFC, 23-20; MVP: Billy Johnson, Houston Oilers, WR

Sports History

Jan 27 Viv Richards scores his 1st Test century against Australia

Jan 28 NBA Atlanta Hawks begin a 28 game road losing streak
Jan 31 In his final Test, West Indian cricket spin bowler Lance Gibbs dismisses Australian opener Ian Redpath for 101 in 6th Test in Melbourne; becomes highest Test wicket-taker at 308

Birthdays in Sport

Jan 1 Caleb Wyatt, American motocross rider (Winter X Games Moto X Best Trick gold, 2005; first to perform successful backflip), born in Medford, Oregon
Jan 2 Danilo Di Luca, Italian road cyclist (Giro d'Italia 2007), born in Spoltore, Italy
Jan 3 Angelos Basinas, Greek soccer defensive midfielder (100 caps, European Championship 2004; Panathinaikos, Mallorca), born in Chalkida, Greece
Jan 4 Benoît Joachim, Luxembourg cyclist, born in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Jan 4 Ted Lilly, American baseball player, born in Torrance, California
Jan 5 Diego Tristán, Spanish footballer, born in La Algaba, Spain
Jan 5 Ivan Tomić, Serbian football manager, born in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Jan 6 Richard Zednik, NHL forward (Team Slovakia, Wash), born in Banská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia
Jan 7 Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player, born in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic
Jan 7 Éric Gagné, Canadian baseball pitcher (NL Cy Young Award 2003), born in Montreal, Quebec
Jan 8 Carl Pavano, American baseball player, born in New Britain, Connecticut

Jan 9 Amy Safe, Australian rower (Olympics 1996), born in Adelaide, Australia (d. 2005)
Jan 9 Radek Bonk, Czech NHL center (Ottawa Senators, Team Czech), born in Krnov, Czech Republic
Jan 10 Adam Kennedy, American MLB second baseman (Los Angeles Dodgers, Anaheim Angels), born in Riverside, California
Jan 11 Efthimios Rentzias, Greek basketball player, born in Trikala, Greece
Jan 13 Gary Brent, cricketer (Zimbabwe ODI pace bowler 1996)
Jan 15 Corey Chavous, American football player, born in Aiken, South Carolina
Jan 16 Viktor Maslov, Russian racing driver, born in Surgut, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Jan 18 Vincent Polvliet, Dutch soccer player (FC Utrecht)
Jan 19 Sky Christopherson, American cyclist (Olympics 1996), born in Tucson, Arizona
Jan 19 Tarso Marques, Brazilian racing driver, born in Paraná, Brazil
Jan 22 James Dearth, American football player, born in Fort Ord National Monument, California
Jan 23 Byron Hanspard, American NFL running back (Atlanta Falcons), born in Dallas, Texas
Jan 23 Phil Boudreault, Canadian boxer (Olympics 1996), born in Greater Sudbury, Canada
Jan 24 Cindy Pieters, Belgian cyclist, born in Veurne, Belgium
Jan 24 Shae-Lynn Bourne, Canadian pairs skater (Bourne & Kraatz, 1994 World Champs-4th), born in Chatham-Kent, Canada
Jan 25 Mario Haberfeld, Brazilian racing car driver, born in São Paulo, Brazil
Jan 27 Ahn Jung-Hwan, Korean football player
Jan 27 Haimish Karrasch, Australian rower (Olympics 1996)
Jan 27 Rhett Warrener, Shaunavon, NHL defenseman (Florida Panthers)
Jan 28 Mark Madsen, American basketball player
Jan 28 Miltiadis Sapanis, Greek footballer
Jan 31 Buddy Rice, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 2004, 24 Hours of Daytona 2009), born in Phoenix, Arizona
Jan 31 Traianos Dellas, Greek football player, born in Thessaloniki, Greece

Weddings in Sport

Pete Maravich

Jan 11 NBA player Pete Maravich (27) weds college sweetheart Jackie Elliser in Metairie, Louisiana

Deaths in Sport

Jan 11 Mervyn Grell, cricketer (Test WI v England 1930, 21 & 13, 0-17), dies
Jan 17 Ad Verhoeven, soccer player (Xerxes/Sparta), dies in a car crash [or 1/18]
Jan 18 Ad Verhoeven, Dutch soccer player (Xerxes/Sparta), dies in a car crash at 42 [or 1/17]
Jan 30 Percy Tyson "Plum" Lewis, South African cricketer (pair in only Test for South Africa), dies at 91